Thirty Years
by coulsonlivesandfurylies
Summary: Thirty years after the end of the war, the eight met again, at a table in a restaurant. While their party only contained eight, there were ten chairs around the table.


**A.N.**

I decided to do a bit of a character study for my personal favorite team, the Howling Commandos. For some reason, the Howling Commandos have all latched onto my heart in various ways.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS BASED ON THE MOVIES AND WHAT I FOUND DURING A BRIEF GLANCE AT WIKIPEDIA ONLY! I HAVE NOT READ THESE COMIC BOOKS!

The Nick Fury used in this story is the father of the movie 'verse Nick Fury. In the comic books, according to Wikipedia, it was he who led the Howling Commandos, not Steve Rogers. I decided to borrow him for this story, using him as the man behind S.H.I.E.L.D..

Ages during Film:  
Peggy = 31  
Howard = 24  
Dugan = 43  
Dernier = 38  
Falsworth = 35  
Jones = 29  
Morita = 32  
Col. Phillips = 54

Ages during Meetup:  
Peggy = 62  
Howard = 55  
Dugan = 74  
Dernier = 69  
Falsworth = 65  
Jones = 60  
Morita = 63  
Col. Phillips = 85

* * *

Thirty years after the end of the war, the eight met again, at a table in a restaurant. While their party only contained eight, there were ten chairs around the table.

* * *

For Howard Stark, the years hadn't been kind. He had married a wonderful woman four years after the end of the war, and had invited the whole team, even offering to fly Peggy, James, and Jacques to the United States for the wedding. Peggy and James had accepted, but Jacques had been rather busy starting a small bakery with his own wife.

But, even Maria couldn't manage to completely lift the cloud from his eyes; the cloud left from the loss of Steve Rogers. When Maria had talked to Peggy at the wedding, the beautiful bride had mentioned in passing Howard's tendency to lock himself into his laboratory for days on end. When Maria had tried to confront him about his odd behavior, Howard had brushed it off as merely research. It wasn't until years later that she realized his true reason for shutting himself into his lab.

He was trying to find the Captain.

In '68, after years of trying to have a baby, the two Stark's had finally managed to carry on the family name in a son that they named Anthony. For whatever reason, Howard withdrew even more after the birth of Anthony, and Maria found herself falling. She tried as hard as she could to be the mother that Tony deserved, but she never felt like she measured up. She soon began to drink.

Their son ended up being raised by the family's loyal butler, Jarvis.

* * *

For Colonel Chester Phillips, the years had been kind. He'd married ten years before the war began, to a woman named Victoria, and by the start of it had one headstrong son and three beautiful daughters. His eldest girl, Katherine, was fourteen, the second girl, Elizabeth, was eleven, and the youngest girl, Samantha was 5. His son, Edward, was nineteen, and had been one of the first waves of boys to sign up for the fight.

He was also one of the first waves of _men_ to die.

Chester had tried to stop his son, but no one had ever had enough willpower to Edward to convince the boy that what he wanted to do was foolish. Victoria had always said that her eldest reminded her of Chester. He didn't realize just how true that was till he learned of his only son's death. Chester had mourned as a commanding officer mourns the loss of a fine soldier, but, the more raw tears he cried were that of a father mourning the loss of a child.

But, the end of the war saw him returning to the rest of his family. But, the end of the war also brought about a completely different wife and daughter then he had left. Katherine was now twenty, Elizabeth seventeen, and even his baby Samantha was a baby anymore at the age of eleven. Meanwhile, his wife, his sweet and innocent Victoria, had lain to rest her only son. She was a changed woman, a stronger woman. But, she was still the woman that Chester had fallen in love with all those years ago.

Now, Katherine was fifty, Elizabeth forty-seven, and Samantha was forty-one. Katherine had moved to San Francisco with her husband when they had first been married in '48, and Elizabeth had been inspired by the stories of young African American's and had moved to Birmingham to do what she could in the fight against racism. Samantha had stayed in the town in upstate New York, and had married in '59. She'd married a fine man by the name of William Coulson, and had given birth to one child, a boy by the name of Phillip Chester Coulson, in '61. William had died soon after their son's birth, and Samantha had raised the boy by herself while managing to take care of both of her parents. Now Phillip was fourteen, and a regular handful. The only time he sat still was when he listened to his grandfather tell stories of the amazing Captain America.

Victoria had passed away in '66 at the age of seventy-four after several years of battle with a heart disease. Chester had been by her side through it all, even when she took her last breath. His final words to her had been simply "I love you, and I'm sorry."

Sometimes, he wished he could have told Steve Rogers he was sorry.

* * *

Morita had happily gone back to Fresno with the end of the war. Within seven years he had married and had four boys with a young Japanese immigrant named Airi Sato. His sons, Kenji, named after his father, Katsuro, named after her father, James, after Bucky, and Steve, after the man who had saved him from the prison camp.

Morita opened an apple orchard in '57. He was surprised by how successful his venture was, and in '62 he decided to buy his wife the café that she had wanted since she had first moved to the United States. They offered the best apple deserts in California. He had been ecstatic about his family's success, and managed to put all four boys through one of the best colleges on the west side of the Mississippi.

By '73, Morita had passed on the orchard to Kenji and James, while Katsuro and Steve had decided to try their luck with politics. While Steve had stayed in California, becoming a State Senator, Katsuro had gone to Washington as a very successful Democratic Representative for the state.

Morita's retirement from the orchard certainly did not mark the end of his career, though. He and Airi still created the best apple deserts in California.

* * *

Dernier had returned to France as quickly as he could, and was one of many soldiers who came back to the cities to dive into the rebuilding of their home towns. Paris had been hit hard, but his neighborhood still stood. By day he cleaned up the streets, and by night he let many of the workers who had lost their homes stay in his house.

That was how Jacques met Marceline Deniau. The two had been put on the same clean up team, and had quickly struck up a friendship. Jacques had been taken by the woman almost instantly, and had proposed to her within a year.

Two years later, Paris had returned to some semblance of what it had been prior to the war. While not nearly as grand as the city Jacques had left, it was still his home.

Jacques surprised Marceline by buying her a small building by the Seine. With the top floor being their home, the two used the bottom to start a bakery. It took awhile for their place to become successful, but within five years their profit had increased by enough for them to live comfortably.

With the success of their bakery, they finally decided to try for a child. In '57, after four years of trying, the two had a small daughter. Naming their perfect baby Marilène, it was decided that they were content with the size of their family. Jacques was a doting father, frequently letting Marilène run around the bakery while the customers chuckled over the girl's energy.

Jacques and Marceline opened a second bakery in Les Champs-Élysées district. The second café was just as successful as the first, allowing the two to retire in '72

* * *

Gabe Jones returned to New York City with the end of the war, and found himself at a loss of what to do. For ten years, the man simply traveled around the US, visiting friends and trying to find a purpose. It wasn't until the beginning of the Civil Rights movement that the man felt he had found his place again.

Gabe spent several years travelling around the South and participating in as many protests as he could. He never advanced to as high as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, but he led several small protests himself. He was there walking side-by-side with fellow men and women during the March on Washington.

Gabe was in New York City when the Harlem Race Riots took place. While he didn't help the men and women who were looting and burning non-black owned businesses that happened with the refusal of suspending the officer responsible for the young man's death, he did participate in the peaceful march that happened the day after the shooting.

Jones was outside of the hotel in '68, listening to the words that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke prior to his assassination. Jones watched in horror as the man he had listened to and respected for years fell onto the balcony, and listened with grim satisfaction as the sentence was read out on the radio.

Jones never married, claiming that 'The civil rights movement, that's my wife' whenever asked.

* * *

Timothy 'Dum Dum' Dugan ended up back in Boston after the war, and took a job a bartender in a pub. Working in the pub for nearly five years, he didn't return to government work until '50, when a man by the name of Nick Fury walked into the bar.

Dugan was at first reluctant at joining the agency Nick Fury claimed to work for, a organization by the name of S.H.I.E.L.D., but agreed after a bit of thought on the subject.

Dugan's work with S.H.I.E.L.D. included hundreds of missions, many of them far more dangerous than the battles he had fought alongside the Captain during the war. Somehow, the man survived long enough to take over for the retiring Nick Fury in '61. As the new head of the agency, Dugan found that he quite liked living the quiet life, a lifestyle he hadn't enjoyed since his childhood.

Dugan's tenure as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. included the fallout of the mutant's participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dugan convinced Moira MacTaggert to join S.H.I.E.L.D. after her job loss with the CIA. Dugan found himself intrigued by the mutants who saved so many lives, and was always willing to lend a hand to the mutant rights cause. He used his power as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to put pressure on the government to protect the men and women who had evolved past the usual extent of human power.

Dugan never married, but became a father figure to hundreds of young agents.

* * *

Falsworth returned to England at the end of the war, accepting the position of Lord Falsworth, a role formerly taken by his father. When he learned that Peggy's London home had been destroyed during the Blitz, he invited his friend to take shelter in his Estate. While she at first declined, Peggy eventually accepted his offer, and never left.

The two had a long courtship. James began as simply a friendly shoulder to cry on, but both eventually found themselves developing feelings for the other. '53 saw the couple married, and by '57 the two had brought a daughter and a son into the world, Brian and Jacqueline.

In '59, Falsworth was in a car accident that resulted in the loss of use of his legs. Confined to a wheelchair, he found his love of life only increase. He and Peggy often went for walks around the estate together, the tough women pushing her husband's wheelchair.

Falsworth was reluctant to return to motor cars for transportation, but eventually managed to place his trust in them again.

* * *

Peggy had been in the Stork Club one week later at 8 o'clock, but Steve had never arrived. She sat there for the evening, staring into a glass of scotch.

'45 allowed her to return to England, only to learn that her former residence had been destroyed during the Blitz. At first she stayed with various old friends of hers, but eventually settled down at the Falsworth Estate. While she felt out of place in her wartime friend's post-war life, James did manage to eventually make her feel comfortable in the odd surroundings.

Peggy found herself falling in love with James during the years that she stayed with him, and she eventually found herself happy to be with the former soldier. She never had to hide her pain at the loss of Steve, because while he had felt the loss differently, both missed the man terribly. James had been content with being simply her friend, and it was Peggy who eventually convinced the man that they should take their relationship farther.

The two were married at the Falsworth estate, with only a handful in attendance. Most of their wartime friends had been there, with only Jones unable to make it. It was the Colonel who walked her down the aisle, since her father and mother had been lost during the Blitz.

Peggy and James had two children, and lived their life without complications until the car crash that took away James ability to walk. Peggy had never felt such pain as when she had been informed of her husband's accident, not even when Steve had crashed the airship. She had spent the entire time James was confined to bed by his side, and had been a key part of his recovery.

She still had hard days; days where the loss of Steve clouded her heart. But, James was always there for her, and she promised that she would always be there for him.

* * *

Thirty years after the end of the war, the eight met again, at a table in a restaurant. While their party only contained eight, there were ten chairs around the table.


End file.
